The Truth About Our Wedding | Quad Cities Wedding and Family Photographer

You guys. I found my wedding photos. My wedding photos of which I thought I only had about 20 low resolution images, were buried deep on a terabyte drive that I happened on while looking for something else. Just one click and then there they were. More than 250 images. I thought I lost them about 6 1/2 years ago during a transfer from an old computer to a new one, but lo and behold- there. they. were. I was so ecstatic, I immediately yelled for Daniel to come take a look at my find and proceeded to cry happy years for the next 10 minutes while I clicked though them. I am still riding on cloud 9 and am so overwhelmed with giddiness that I decided I had to share about our wedding day! Plus, January 1st was the 8 year anniversary of our first date, so it's equally fitting to share! June 6, 2009 remains one of the most important and beautiful days of my life and here's why:

I guess it all starts with him. Daniel. The guy who, after I had been seeing him for 6 weeks, was crazy enough to propose to me. I was young and totally in love and also a little crazy and said yes. We were married just 4 short months later. We wanted to get married by water, so our minds went to where there is lots of water- the north shore along Lake Superior in Minnesota. We found a park online that supposedly had waterfalls and decided, without ever seeing the place, that that was the place where we would say our I Dos.

I found my wedding dress at Von Maur on sale for $50 and had it altered to be strapless and tea length. My jewelry was pearls that had been my moms. We didn't wear shoes during the wedding, instead we stood barefoot and fully connected to the earth, so that made the shoe situation simple. A family friend would go with to do my hair and photograph the wedding and I wasn't wearing makeup in those days, so all in all planning was simple! We loaded our immediate families and our family friend into two vans and drove 7 1/2 hours north. Our families  stayed in cabins that looked directly out onto Lake Superior! A little placed called Island View Resort- nothing fancy, but just right for us! We got up there around 2 on Friday and Daniel and I drove the 30 minutes (farther) north to Gooseberry Falls State Park where we had read there would be magnificent waterfalls worthy of being married by. We hiked a bit and there they were- the beautiful upper and lower falls. We knew that was the place where we would get married. Then I realized I needed a bouquet. On our way back to the cabin, we saw a little mom and pop florist just off the highway. We pulled over and asked if they could whip up a bouquet of lilies and prepare some daisies for my hair. She said come back at 5 and it will be done. She did amazing. The bouquet was so me and I will never forget how beautiful it was! I know NO small business owner who likes a can-you-get-it-done-for-tommorrow deadline, so to her I am eternally grateful! That night, I stayed with my family and Daniel stayed with his and we all went to be early to be to the falls by 9am.

Saturday came. The girls got ready in my parent's cabin and the guys went to Daniel's family's cabin to get ready. We drove separately to the falls where Daniel got in place and saw me as I was walked down the isle (a rocky trail) by my mom and dad while my brother-in-law played a song on the guitar he wrote for us. It was about 65' out, but with the sun shinning down on the rocks, it was really comfortable! We were married by a pastor that we met with the night before and who was, I'm sure, more than a little apprehensive about marrying a 23 and 25 year old that had only been dating for 6 months! We said our vows. We said I Do. We took some photos. Then we headed back to the cabins and all shared a huge breakfast by the fire. As soon as we got back to the cabins it got cloudy and rainy and cold and was like that the rest of the weekend. I think it's safe to say Someone was smiling down on us and truly blessed our marriage :)

I thought for so long that our wedding would only be with me in memory. The hundreds of photos that had hidden themselves brought back so many memories that I didn't even know I had forgotten! And that's when it was driven home for me. This is why I want to photograph weddings. So a couple can have images of every detail for when their memories have faded. So there are photos to remind you how wonderful it was to gather together to celebrate your love. And so you can sit together with your 5 month old and laugh and cry at the beauty that was your wedding day. 

The rest of our time in Minnesota was spent hiking in the rain, getting drenched in freezing Lake Superior waves and sitting around camp fires trying to warm up. It was perfect. Our honeymoon was spent in Napa Valley and San Francisco and might appear in another blog post :)

Photos by Kristen Washam. Thanks, Kristen. These are more precious to me than you know <3